'AGT' Seaosn 18 contestant Trent Toney bags 4 yeses from the judges

They would have called him Jonah in a past life… When lobster diver Michael Packard found himself being swallowed up by a humpback whale he was convinced his time had come. But just as he was having what he assumed to be his final thoughts, the whale decided against it and spat him out. Packard was able to swim to safety after the incident, which was in June 2021. Since then, he has given a series of interviews about the death-defying episode. “[I was] trapped for about 30-40 seconds. Yes, I was almost convinced I was going to die that day,” he said in a Reddit Ask Me Anything. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter “All of a sudden, I felt this huge shove and the next thing I knew it was completely black,” he said in a separate interview with the Cape Cod Times. “I could sense I was moving, and I could feel the whale squeezing with the muscles in his mouth,” Packard was 56 at the time, and initially thought he was inside a great white shark. However, he couldn’t feel any teeth and he hadn’t suffered any obvious wounds, and it dawned on him that the situation was far more biblical than that. “I was completely inside; it was completely black,” Packard said. “I thought to myself, ‘there’s no way I’m getting out of here. I’m done, I’m dead.’ All I could think of was my boys — they’re 12 and 15 years old.” Experts think the incident was likely a freak accident, and that the humpback whales are not aggressive towards humans. (That puts them in a different category to orcas, which have spent the first half of 2023 exacting their revenge on humankind.) Jooke Robbins, director of Humpback Whale Studies at the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, said: “Based on what was described, this would have to be a mistake and an accident on the part of the humpback.” When a humpback opens its mouth to feed, it billows out like a parachute, blocking the animal’s forward vision, which is why so many become entangled in fishing gear in their mouth and jaws, said Robbins. It isn’t even Packard’s first brush with death. The diver also managed to survive a plane crash in Costa Rica in 2001 in miraculous circumstances. The crash, which killed three people, saw Packard sustain “severe facial injuries and multiple broken long bones in his arms and legs”, according to a Cape Cod Times dispatch in 2001. A doctor who treated the survivors told the Associated Press: "They would not have survived another night at that site." As for the whale escape? Packard didn’t sustain any serious injuries, telling Reddit he was left with “soft tissue damage, nothing serious”. A close shave indeed. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

MAGA firebrand Lauren Boebert emerged as one of the fiercest critics to the debt ceiling deal brokered by House leader Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden to avoid a catastrophic default. But when it was time for the House of Representatives to cast their votes on Wednesday night, she failed to show up. Ms Boebert was mocked on social media after she reportedly “narrowly missed the vote, running up the steps right as they gaveled”, according to Axios Capitol Hill reporter Juliegrace Brufke. Spencer Soicher, a reporter from Ms Boebert’s home state of Colorado, pointed out that she had made 23 Twitter posts in the past week voicing her displeasure with the compromise deal. Democrat Adam Frisch, who in 2022 lost his bid to unseat Ms Boebert in Colorado’s third district by just 546 votes, wrote on Twitter: “How can you represent #CO03 when you don’t even show up? What was more important than voting?” Jon Cooper, who chairs The Democratic Coalition, tweeted: “Lauren Boebert was a vocal opponent of the bipartisan debt ceiling bill — but she ended up MISSING tonight's vote entirely. Is anyone surprised?” Ms Boebert had earlier vowed to vote against the debt ceiling deal, saying on Tuesday that the bill was a “bunch of fake news and fake talking points” that did nothing to rein in federal spending. “If every Republican voted the way that they campaigned, they would vote against tomorrow's bad deal.” The House voted overwhelmingly by 314 to 117 to raise the debt limit, after Republicans were given concessions to cut IRS funding and increase work requirements on social spending programmes. A total of 71 Republicans voted against the deal, along with 46 Democrats, avoiding an apocalyptic scenario where the US would default on its debts. The bill now heads to the Senate, where a vote is expected to be held by Friday. Read More Debt ceiling news - live: Senate races to pass Biden-McCarthy deal as Boebert mocked for missing House vote What’s next for Biden-McCarthy debt ceiling deal as Senate races to beat default deadline? White House rejects Lauren Boebert’s claim that antisemitism plan will be used ‘go after conservatives’ Boebert didn’t turn up to vote on debt ceiling deal she furiously campaigned against Lauren Boebert claims Biden plan to combat antisemitism will target ‘conservatives’ Lauren Boebert intervened in son’s alleged 911 abuse call, report says

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So you've clicked on an article about the internet's best headboards. That can only mean one thing: You're officially in the thick of adulthood. It happens in the blink of an eye. One day you wake up atop your mattress, prop your (aching) back against a rigid wall, and think, I'm too old for this. Unfortunately, we can't manipulate the falling sands of the hourglass — but we can help you find the best headboard for your very grown-up bedroom.

Travis Scott's new song mentioning the 'Willy Wonka factory' could be a jab at Timothee Chalamet, who plays the famous chocolatier in the 'Wonka' film